Chapter 179 Breaking through 200 million
In the ninth week of "The Trap", Guess Pictures' third film of the year was publicly released, the comedy film "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", which was completed in June.
The film is jointly produced by Guess Pictures and Columbia Pictures, with Guess Pictures responsible for production and Columbia Pictures responsible for promotion and distribution.
The production cost was $12 million and the publicity and promotion budget was $8 million.
After the movie is released, Guess What Pictures will get 38% of the North American box office, 30% of the overseas box office, and 25% of the video tape revenue, accounting for 70% of the producer's box office share, but the revenue from the movie's peripheral copyrights will belong to Columbia Pictures.
Because the film was released by Columbia Pictures, it did not attract much attention during the early promotion period, as people thought it was just a low-cost comedy film released by Columbia Pictures.
The movie's star, Jim Carrey, was an unknown, and the director, Tom Shadyac, was also unknown. Only the second female lead, Monica Bellucci, became a minor celebrity thanks to "Paranormal Activity."
There isn't much to note about the film's starring cast either.
The media and peers didn't take the film seriously either.
However, after the release of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", many media outlets had to shift their attention and space to this movie.
The reason is simple.
The film unexpectedly became the weekly box office champion.
The first week box office revenue was 14.26 million US dollars.
It successfully dethroned the five-time consecutive champion action blockbuster "Inline" and took the top spot at the weekly box office.
What is even more surprising is that the producer of this movie is Guess Pictures, which is responsible for everything from producer to director, leading actor, cameramanship, editing, and post-production.
Link is also the screenwriter and producer of the film.
When seeing the Guess the Movie logo and Link’s name in the opening credits, many people realized that this movie might be closely related to Link.
The film recovered its costs in the first week of its release, which made many of its peers envious. After "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Wedding Banquet", another film from Guess What Pictures is going to be a big hit.
It seems like every movie that features Link is a big hit.
After the release of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", other films released at the same time were greatly affected.
Last week's box office champion "In the Line of Fire" fell below 10 million, and the action blockbuster "Fatal Distance" released this week only grossed 8.72 million.
"Trap" box office fell below $1 million this week, with only $892,000 in revenue, a drop of 60%.
The media predicts that the North American box office of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" will not be less than 80 million US dollars.
This news also made Michael Ovitz, Richard Gere, Tom Cruise and others, who were almost calming down, nervous again.
Guess what? The films produced by the same studio, such as "Paranormal Activity", "The Blair Witch Project", "The Wedding Banquet", and "Ace Ventura", were big hits. Will the next new Link movie be a big hit?
Judging from the current situation, the probability of being a hit is extremely high and the probability of making a loss is extremely small.
Robert Downey Jr. and others panicked and called Richard Gere to discuss countermeasures with him.
Richard Gere called Michael Ovitz again and asked for his opinion.
In the end, Michael Ovitz decided to continue to find ways to increase the box office of "Trap" and bring the box office of this movie to a safe level so that everyone can wait for Link's movie to be released with peace of mind. Otherwise, in another five weeks, the 15-week limit will be over, and there will be no chance to increase the box office of "Trap" at that time.
Ovitz's decision was supported by everyone.
Starting from the second week after the release of "Ace Ventura", the publicity for "The Trap" in the media suddenly surged, and its momentum was not much less than that of the newly released "Ace Ventura".
At the same time, there were many negative reviews of "Ace Ventura" in the media, criticizing the film for being a bad movie. The whole film was supported by Jim Carrey alone, and the rest of the plot was meaningless. Jim Carrey tried to please the audience with funny movements such as distorted face, mania and stiff limbs, which was very low-level.
However, such movies can sell well after their release, which is very unfair to classic movies like "The Trap".
Many stars under CAA announced that they would book a theater to invite fans to watch Tom Cruise's "The Trap" in order to support this excellent movie.
Robert Downey Jr. announced that he would book 24 shows in several cities in Southern California, and all audiences could watch the movie for free.
Kiefer Sutherland, David Duchovny, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Gere and others also announced that they would book 24 consecutive shows, and Nicole Kidman announced that she would book 40 consecutive shows to support her husband Tom Cruise. In addition, many stars under CAA also announced that they would book all the shows to support "It's a Prank."
Their slogan is 'Support good movies and let bad movies roll back into the trash'.
Under Link's urging, Columbia Pictures also stepped up its promotion of the film, broadcasting the trailer for "Ace Ventura" on various TV stations. The film crew also increased the number of road shows to promote the film in major cities in North America.
In its second week of release, "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" grossed $27.05 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $41.31 million.
Reigned as the weekly box office champion.
This week, "The Trap" also earned $8.37 million, bringing its North American box office to $176 million.
In its third week of release, "Ace Ventura" grossed $17.62 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $68.94 million.
CAA also continued to make efforts, and its stars continued to book theaters, but the intensity was obviously much smaller. This week, "Trap" earned 6.16 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office was 182 million.
"Ace Ventura" earned $5.47 million in its sixth week of release, bringing its North American box office to $86.21 million.
After 15 weeks of release, the efforts of CAA, Paramount Pictures and many stars pushed the film's North American box office to $202 million, successfully breaking the $200 million mark.
According to estimates by The Hollywood Reporter, CAA and Paramount Pictures spent more than $30 million on the box office of "The Trap."
Now, "Sugar Coat Trap" has grossed $202 million in North America in its first 15 weeks.
How much box office will Link's new movie get?
Who will win the bet between Link and Tom Cruise and others?
Many people are looking forward to it.
Amid everyone's anticipation, Link's third film, "Final Destination", announced its release schedule, and the film is scheduled to be released on October 22, the eve of Halloween.
It seems that in order to snipe Link's new movie, the CAA agency has used various means to advance or delay the release of several potential movies to around October 22.
Including the action blockbuster "Sniper" starring Sylvester Stallone, the sequel to Paramount Pictures' hit movie "The Addams Family" "Addams Family Values", "A Better Tomorrow" starring Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, and the sci-fi action blockbuster "RoboCop 3".
Some are movies from Paramount Pictures, and some are movies from the other six major film companies.
Michael Ovitz used his connections to mobilize so many resources to block Link's new movie. On the one hand, it shows that Michael Ovitz has deep connections and great power. On the other hand, it also shows that the Big Seven Studios are also hostile to Link and Guess What? Pictures, and do not want to see Guess What? Pictures rise.
Originally, the spectators saw that "The Wedding Banquet" and "Ace Detective" produced by Guess Pictures were successful one after another, and they were full of confidence in Link's next movie, believing that Link had a hope of winning this bet.
However, as several blockbusters adjusted their release dates, everyone's confidence in Link began to decline, and they believed that it would be difficult for "Final Destination" to break through the blockade of several blockbusters and get a good box office result. The probability of the North American box office reaching 202 million was extremely small.
"Haha, with so many movies competing with Final Destination, it's hard for Final Destination to get 60 million at the box office. Link is doomed to lose this time."
"Link is pretty stupid. I originally thought he would release his new movie around the winter vacation, but he released it at the end of October. October is the off-season for movies, and it's hard for a movie to sell hundreds of millions of box office."
"Anyway, the most tense moment has passed. Now let's raise our glasses and welcome the final victory."
"cheers!"
In the bar, Richard Gere, Robert Downey Jr. and others raised their glasses to celebrate.
(End of this chapter)
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